


Welcome to King Falls

by PaperbackGarden



Series: King Falls Kid Fic [2]
Category: King Falls AM (Podcast)
Genre: Ben being a good dad, Homophobia, Kid Fic, M/M, Mutual Pining, Original Character(s), Trans Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-14
Updated: 2018-10-14
Packaged: 2019-08-01 20:23:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,939
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16291136
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PaperbackGarden/pseuds/PaperbackGarden
Summary: “How can you just date in this town?”“What do you mean?”“Tim Jensen. Jack Wright. Our mother. If you actually love someone, this town will make you fight tooth and nail to get them back. It’s the type of pain that never goes away and at some point you will have to ask yourself if it’s worth the risk”James is not naturally pessimistic, but he has lived in King Falls his whole life. He knows all the stories.There is someone who does not know all the stories, of course. A new kid, James's age, who moved here recently. He knows nothing about the paranormal that has become so common for James.Somehow, they become fast friends.





	Welcome to King Falls

**Author's Note:**

> This got away from me. It was not supposed to be this OC heavy yet here we are.   
> I promise it's worth it.   
> If you squint it looks like an Adam/Caleb Bright Sessions AU I promise I did not do that on purpose.

James Arnold was not a popular kid. He was not disliked by most who got to know him, but he did not have an endless stream of friends like his little brother. That said, James did like meeting new people, so when a boy walked into his history class whom he had never seen before, James pulled nothing short of a social kidnapping.   
The new kid had stood by the door, staring out at the small sea of students in mild terror. The small sea stared back. They did not get new kids very often, and no one knew how to react.   
James tapped the desk next to his. The new boy didn’t notice. He tapped harder and cleared his throat. That worked, and the boy walked to the back of the class to sit by James.   
“You owe me.” James teased “For saving you from death by high school stares.”   
The boy grinned back “I could have lasted at least another minute before dropping dead on the spot.”   
“But at what cost?” James asked and the boy pretended to shudder in horror.   
“The last of my will to live.”   
James laughed, which earned him a lopsided smile from the boy. He knew, in that moment, he liked this one.   
Their teacher walked in and stood in front of the class, waiting for silence from the whispering students.   
“As you have probably noticed, we have a new student here today. I’m going to have him stand up and tell us a little about himself so we can all get to know him.” She waved the boy to the front of the class, and once he was standing in front of everyone, he shot them an awkward smile.   
“Hi. I’m Ethan, I’m sixteen, and I’m from a small town in northern Arizona. My town wasn’t quite as small as this, but it was getting there. I look forward to spending the rest of my high school career with all of you.”   
With that, he walked back to the desk and sat down. He held his thumb up to James, then to the side, then down.   
How was it? He seemed to be asking.   
James gave him a thumbs up, then whispered “We’re not job interviewers, we’re teenagers.”   
“Don’t remind me.” He snarked back.   
It continued like this, friendly teasing back and forth, for the rest of the hour. When they left the class, James sprung the trap.   
“Do you have lunch plans yet?”   
“I was counting on going full ‘eat lunch in a bathroom stall like the loser you are’ for at least the first week. Why, have something better in mind?”   
“Depends what your thoughts are on the football stands.”  
“Depends on the company I’ll be keeping.”   
“I can offer one jock cleverly disguised as me and maybe two underclassmen.”   
“Sounds like the ideal way to spend lunch.” Ethan said with a soft smile. “Lead the way.” 

James tried not to develop a crush on Ethan right away, but things are often easier said than done. There was, of course, the fact that Ethan was attractive. He had messy dark blonde hair that fell in his face and a tan from living in Arizona. He was taller than James, thinner too, though not by much in either. More importantly though, was that there was something so natural about them, as if they had been friends forever. When they got to the stands, both boys were laughing too hard to breathe. James found pride in the source of the laughter being his story.   
As they approached the spot he normally sat at, it became clear that Paige and Conner were not there. In their place was a note. It explained that Conner was at the first photography club meeting and Paige was hanging out with other kids.   
“Looks like it’s just the two of us today.” James said as he sat.   
“I’m alright with that. Who were the underclassmen exactly?”   
“My brother and our…” Cousin wasn’t quite the right word “Our Paige.”   
Ethan scrunched up his face in a confused smile “You’re gonna have to explain that.”   
“My dad’s best friend and co host is this guy named Sammy. He’s Paige’s dad.”   
“Oh okay I get it.”   
The conversation stalled as they both took a bite of their food. Ethan eventually spoke, mouth still partially full.   
“It’s so cool that you’ve got people like that. I didn’t have anyone that close back in Arizona.”   
“Well, you’re stuck with us now, even if the others don’t know it yet.” James said with a grin. Ethan grinned back.   
From their place in the top row of the stands, they could see a lot of the town. James started pointing out the locations they could see and giving Ethan information. _If you squint you can see the library where my mom works, and up that mountain is the studio. Channel 13 works over there, we don’t like them, take my word for it. ___  
“I think you can see the apartment complex from here.” Ethan said, pointing. “Right there! My new home.”  
“Hey! That’s where Sammy and Jack lived before getting a house!” James said “I wonder if you got their apartment. How cool would that be?”   
“Okay you’ve told be about Sammy. Who’s Jack?”   
“Sammy’s husband. Paige’s dad. My mom’s best friend.” James said simply. He could feel Ethan looking at him, but kept his eyes towards the town. What was Ethan thinking? Did he think it was weird that Paige had two dads? Probably not, right? If so, he’d have to stop hanging out with him before Ethan realized James wasn’t the straightest or most cis guy in town but what if-   
“I’m glad I’m not the only one this time.” Ethan said finally, and James found himself able to breath again.   
He put on his best, unaffected smirk “You’re not even the only high schooler.”   
“Yeah?” Ethan pressed, not looking away.   
“Yep. Welcome to the small town openly gays club.”   
“Please, I’m the founder of that club.”   
“I think you’ll have to fight Ron for that title. He used to be the only member.”   
“I don’t know who Ron is, but I am terrified of someone with that power.”   
“He is a terrifying man.”

__

__James and Ethan became fast friends, glued to each other’s sides pretty quickly. They did everything together, but their favorite thing was to explore the town. Ethan loved to learn new things, and there was a lot to learn in King Falls._ _

___“This is the library.” James said, holding the door one afternoon._  
“Really? I thought it was a swimming pool.”   
“Oh shut up.”   
They wandered inside and were greeted almost right away by a woman with glasses and hair just starting to gray.   
“Hello James, how was school?”   
“Hi mom. School was fine. I just wanted to show Ethan around.”   
Emily turned her attention on the other boy “So you’re Ethan? It’s a pleasure to finally meet you, I’ve heard a lot of good things.”   
“You have?” He looked pointedly at James, smiling. James wasn’t sure what it meant, and he really did not want to think about it.   
“Hey mom will you show him where you and dad faced off against the apparitions? Especially Lincoln.”   
“Of course, James. Follow me.”   
Ethan leaned over to James and asked, very quietly “What do you mean ‘apparition?’”   
“They don’t like the term ‘ghost.’ It’s very rude.”   
Ethan’s face scrunched up the way it always did when he was confused “Ghosts aren’t real.”   
“Apparitions. And they are very real, especially here in King Falls.”   
Ethan gave him a look that so clearly said you’re out of your mind, but James shrugged it off. He’d see soon enough that skepticism is quickly extinguished in this town. 

__

___“I can’t believe we’re doing this.”_  
James finished the knot he was tying with a sigh “This is what happens when we hang out with Conner and Paige.”   
From up in the tree, helping tie the bag far out on a branch, Paige called down “We’re fun and you know it.”  
Ethan watched as James poured chicken broth over the bag of meat scraps from Rose’s diner. Even after being told by adults about apparitions and even after reading newspapers about saving people from what seemed to be actual hell, seeing a werewolf in person was getting to be a bit much.   
“Guys I think I hear something.” Conner’s voice came through the walkie talkie Ethan had been tasked with holding on to. “Yeah something’s definitely- OH SHIT ITS GO TIME.”   
James threw down the box of chicken broth and got down on his knee, holding his hands out to help Ethan up.   
“You proposing to be, Arnold?” Ethan teased, laughing as James refused to make eye contact.   
“Just get up the tree, idiot.” He said. He sounded mildly panicked though.   
As Ethan helped James up, he had an epiphany. It was the worst time, but as Conner booked it towards the tree holding up two fingers, two minutes until it arrives, Ethan could not help but think.  
James might actually like him.   
He had not considered it before, because even though they were friends, James as cool and sporty. He would never like the nerdy new kid in town.   
“Hey you!” Conner called from the base of the tree “Help me up. We don’t have long.”   
Ethan reached down and grabbed the younger boy’s hand, pulling him onto the branch. Conner’s camera bumped against his chest as he got sorted on the branch next to Paige.   
“You have service?” He asked her, breathing hard.   
“Yup. Hope they’re not in the middle of something important when we call in.”   
“I think we can interrupt Archie’s rumor of the night for some real news.” Conner said, preparing the camera.   
“Do they do this sort of thing often?” Ethan asked, watching the ground for a monster.   
“Only once every few months. And weekly over the summer.”   
Ethan laughed awkwardly “Great. Fantastic. My only friends here are crazy monster hunters.”   
“Welcome to King Falls.” Conner snarked.   
The bushes below rustled and everyone went dead silent. For a moment, nothing happened.   
Then, a hulking mass stepped into the clearing. It had matted fur and a long nose, it’s claws scraped the ground as it stalked forward, sniffing the air.   
Ethan gasped, and James reached over to put his hand on his shoulder. Heart racing for a few reasons, Ethan looked at the werewolf then back at James. James, in turn, smirked knowingly. Of course James was going to be an ass over this. He was always this way about the weird stuff that happened in this town. It was part of what made this fun  
As the monster dug into the bag of scraps, Paige dialed the hotline number and Conner took photos.   
“No I can’t tell who it is from here, dad. Yes I can call Troy.” She leaned away from the phone “James call Troy.”   
James released Ethan’s shoulder and dug out his phone, leaving Ethan to sit and try not to think about the feelings building in his chest or the werewolf a few feet below him.   
What a weird night. 

__

___Ethan struggled to untie his tangled fishing line as James ran his fingers across the surface of the water, sending out ripples. The bass tournament was in full swing, and it was clear there was no way the boys would win. That was okay, winning had never been either of their goals._  
"If you look close you can see the outline of Kingsie."   
Ethan set down the fishing pole and rested his face on his hand.   
“Be honest with me for a second.”   
"Okay?"  
"Is Kingsie at all related to Nessie?"   
"Of course not, don't be ridiculous. Kingsie is actually real."   
James grinned at his best friend, who glared back with murder in his eyes. Ethan took a deep breath, silent for another second before speaking.   
"WE ARE IN A BOAT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE LAKE, JAMES"  
"She's perfectly harmless." James laughed   
"YOU WAITED TO TELL ME ABOUT THE LAKE MONSTER UNTIL WE WERE IN THE LAKE, JAMES"  
James laughed harder, leaning back against the edge of the boat.   
“Welcome to King Falls.”  
“This wacky town is going to be the death of me.” Ethan said, shaking his head and returning to trying to untie the knot.   
“Do you want help with that?”   
“What? Oh, no I’ve got it.”   
The conversation lapsed into silence. James couldn’t help but feel like that had been happening a lot lately, as if they both had something to hold back.   
Maybe it was the same thing? James figured he deserved a little wishful thinking.   
“Can you believe it’s June already?” Ethan said “It’s like that last year of school didn’t even exist.”   
“I know! It was wild! It went by so fast but also, it feels like it lasted forever. I mean, mainly it feels like I’ve known you forever.”   
Ethan beamed at him. “I feel the same way.” He focused on the bottom of boat, not meeting James’s eyes. “I’m really happy you’re in my life, James.”   
Silence again. Neither spoke.   
“You’re my best friend.” James said slowly. Maybe he was imagining the way Ethan’s shoulders dropped a little when he said it.   
Or maybe he wasn’t.   
“Sometimes I think, aside from my parents, you might be the best thing that ever happened to me.” James continued, watching every little movement Ethan made “And that’s the type of thing that gets messed up sometimes. Especially here. And I just want you to know I am going to do everything in my power not to mess it up.”   
“Okay.” Ethan said softly.   
“Okay.” James said.   
The silence stretched out between them again for a minute before Ethan threw down the fishing line. “This is dumb.”   
“We can get a new-”   
“No not that, well okay that is dumb, it refuses to untangle, but it’s not as dumb as this.” He gestured between the two of them, “The thing we’re doing right now? It’s idiotic.”   
James tried to steady his breathing, no clue where this was going.   
“How so?”   
Ethan sighed. “The story of your parents. Life is crazy and beating around the bush only does harm. We never know when we’ll run out of time, so we need to act soon. So why are we doing this? 

___“-and we are back! In case you are just tuning in, Sammy and I are live at the Annual Bass Tournament. We just finished out interview with Ron, so if you missed that-”_  
“Benjamin Arnold do you have any idea what your son is doing right now?” Cynthia interrupted, power walking towards them as if her life depended on it.   
“Good afternoon, Cynthia. How are you today?” Sammy asked, keeping the same good-natured tone he always used with Cynthia. It seemed to piss her off when he was polite.   
“Don’t you ‘Good afternoon Cynthia’ me, Sammy.” She snapped. Sammy held his hands up as if surrendering, which only made her glare harder.   
“Cynthia, you said one of my kids is getting in trouble? I thought Conner was at home.”  
“Don’t be silly, Ben. Conner is a sweetheart. The problem is James.”   
“James?” Ben asked as Sammy snarked “Conner’s a sweetheart?” Cynthia nodded, eyes wide, as if to say ‘duh.’  
“But, James is on the lake right now with Ethan.” Ben said.   
“With Ethan is one way to put it. Honestly if that kid wanted to make out with boys all day-”  
“I can feel the rude comment coming and I won’t have it on my show about my son.” Ben interjected.  
“I’m not the one you should be scolding, Ben! I came here to-”   
“Tattletail on a teenager?” Sammy offered.   
“Look, I would love to stay and chat, but I do want to go talk to James. To congratulate him. I swear he never shuts up about Ethan.” Ben said pointedly. “Bye Cynthia. Sammy, I will be right back, maybe with a teenage guest or two.”   
“I’ll hold the fort down.”   
“You’re the best! BRB!” 

___Ethan and James were back on the shore when Ben caught up to them. They were laughing at some joke one of them had shared, hand in hand. Suddenly, Ethan’s eyes met Ben’s and he released James’s hand in panic. James caught on half a second later and walked up.  
“Hey dad. Uh.. um… what’s up?”   
“Hi Mr. Arnold.” Ethan muttered, watching his feet.   
“So Cynthia just stopped by and filled our ears with some interesting gossip.” Ben said, straight to the point.   
“I told you she saw us.” Ethan said, looking crestfallen. “Half the town is going to know by tomorrow, aren’t they? Damn it, that was dumb. We shouldn’t have done that where we could be seen.”  
“Hey. Ethan” Ben said, not liking the familiar look of panic he used to see on Sammy’s face all the time on such a young kid. “I’m not mad. I’m happy for you two.”   
“James said you would be. Happy. I mean.” Ethan said.   
“And I was right.” James laced his fingers through Ethan’s, smiling reassuringly. “And anyone who has a problem with us doesn’t matter.”   
“My parents kind of matter, James.”   
And there it was, out in the air, making it hard to breath. Ben opened his mouth to say something, but was knocked speechless by the look on James’s face.   
_Is that what I look like when I looked at Emily? When her world was crashing around her and all I wanted was to fix it all?__   
“Let’s go talk to Sammy. I left him alone with Cynthia.” Ben said “We can talk about stuff to do this summer, and then we can sort this out. Ethan, I don’t know if James told you this about me, but I fix things. It’s what I do best. We can make this work, okay?”   
“Okay Mr. Arnold.” 

___Making it work was a fight. Ethan’s parents had been ignoring his sexuality for years, but with their son dating a boy known by most of the town, that was hard to do._  
First, they demanded they break up. When that didn’t work, they just did everything in their power to keep the boys apart.   
When that did work, Ben did what he does best and got involved.   
“We’re going to have dinner with Ethan’s family.” He explained to Sammy one day after the show. “Conner, James, Emily and I are going to have a lovely sit down with them. I was wondering if you wanted to bring Jack and Paige.”   
“Are you inviting me to someone else’s dinner?”   
“Manners kind of went out the window a while back, man. All this family cares about is their image, by the sounds of it, so they won’t say no to two guys with a radio show.”   
“Alright I guess we’re going to dinner.”  
“You don’t have to come, cause I can’t promise they won’t say anything about-”   
“Oh I’m coming. No way I’m not, though, I might have Paige stay home.”  
Ben nodded once “Yeah leaving Conner at home is probably a good idea too. He might try to actually start something.”   
“I wonder where he gets it.” Sammy teased.   
“Oh shut up man.” 

___Dinner was awkward almost right away, and Ethan was clearly reveling in it. His parents were so polite to Sammy and Jack, for image’s sake. They said nothing about the two men holding hands, so Ethan sat by James and laced their finger together too. Let them try to start something without being rude to their guests. He dared them to try._  
The conversation was civil for a while, talking about the library and the bass tournament, until Ethan’s mother got tired of her son and James’s flirting all evening. She turned to Sammy and Jack, innocent as can be.   
“So are you two roommates?”   
The comment was supposed to be show stopping, but Jack refused to give her that satisfaction.  
“Sammy’s my husband.” He said, smiling back just as innocently.   
“Oh.” She said “I see.”   
There was a coolness to her voice that had not been there before, but she quickly turned to Emily “So how did you and Ben here meet?”   
“It was nothing compared to how Sammy and Jack met.” Emily responded, friendly smile to match all the others.   
James and Ethan shared a glance. Here goes nothing.   
“I bet it was fascinating, but I want to know about you, dear.” She said to Emily.   
Emily breezed through the story of the first interview quickly, mentioned that they went on some dates after that, and left out the aliens entirely.   
“Sammy, you have to share how you and Jack met.” Emily said.   
“I don’t think that’s at all necessary.” Ethan’s dad broke in.   
“Why not?” It was Ethan who spoke, staring down the table at his parents.   
“Because we don’t enjoy the way this dinner turned into an attack.” He responded tightly. “We don’t have to like the fact that our son thinks he’s gay or the fact that the kid he’s dating a tran-”  
“I wouldn’t finish that sentence if I were you.” Ben said sharply. “It’s not that you have to like these things about your son, but that you should. He’s your kid and the fact that you can say all this says more about you than him.”   
“You have no right to judge us!” Ethan’s mom snapped.   
“Really?” Sammy said “Think about that argument for a second.”   
“Here’s the deal I’m going to make with you.” Ben said “You clearly care more about your reputation than anything else, so we’ll keep this conversation to ourselves. We won’t mention it on, say, our radio show, because deep down you know what you’re doing is wrong. In exchange, you stop getting in between your own son and his happiness. Deal?” 

__

___It was years later, and the boys decided to take a night off from preparing to leave for college in the city. They say on a nice grassy drop off, halfway up the mountain to the studio. Above them, the stars shone brightly. Below them, trees stretched as far as the eye could see. It was a reminder of the ways this town could steal people away, and the thought was more terrifying than it had ever been before._  
“Long before I was born.” James said “My mom vanished into the night. Abducted by aliens. My dad did everything within his power to get her back. He shot a UFO out of the sky. Meanwhile, a man who is basically my uncle was only in this town to find his missing fiance. He tried, and gave up, then tried again. And he won, getting Jack home safe.”   
“James why are you-”   
“I think my family is doomed to have to fight for love.” James said, “We have to face these stupid challenges to earn our happy endings, and I always hated it. I dreaded the idea of going through so much for one person but… I think I get it now. I see why my dad did everything he did for my mom, Sammy, Conner, and us. It’s makes sense because you make everything make sense.”  
“James, I… I don’t know how to even begin to respond to that.”   
“You don’t need to say anything quite yet. I need to ask you something first.” He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a small box.  
“Will you... “ He cleared his throat, looking so nervous with his shaking hands. “Ethan, will you do me the honor of fighting for you forever?” 


End file.
